Jennings scores 25, Milwaukee stuns Atlanta 91-87

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ATLANTA(AP) -- Relying on young and old, the Milwaukee Bucks find
themselves one win from an upset that looked improbable just a
week ago.

No one is more stunned than the Atlanta Hawks, who figured they
would have things all wrapped up by now.

Brandon Jennings scored 25 points, Kurt Thomas drew a crucial
charging foul against Joe Johnson and the Bucks stunned the home
team with a 14-0 run late in the game, beating the favored Hawks
91-87 on Wednesday night for a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven
series.

Milwaukee, appearing in the playoffs for the first time since
2006, responded like the seasoned postseason team after getting
blown out in the first two games. The third-seeded Hawks,
planning for a long run in their third straight playoff
appearance, better figure out a way to win on the road or this
season will be over much sooner than they expected.

Game 6 is Friday night in Milwaukee.

"The pressure's not on us," Jennings said.

Milwaukee center Andrew Bogut is watching the playoffs with a
cast on his right hand after taking a gruesome fall late in the
regular season, but the 20-year-old Jennings keeps stepping up
big with darting moves to the hoop and timely jumpers. The
rookie scored 12 straight points early and clinched the victory
with two free throws.

Joining him in a duo for the ages is the 37-year-old Thomas, one
of the league's oldest players. Bogut's replacement doesn't show
up much on the stat sheet - he took only one shot and failed to
score - but he came up with perhaps the biggest play of the game
when he stepped out to take a charge from Johnson with 2:15
remaining, the Atlanta star's sixth foul.

"I thought when Joe Johnson came out of the game," Jennings
said, "we had a chance to win it."

The Hawks appeared to be in control leading 82-73 after Josh
Smith's long jumper with 4:10 remaining. Milwaukee scored the
next 14 points while Atlanta was missing seven straight shots.
Even though Al Horford finally broke the drought with 19 seconds
remaining, then banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key to
finish with 25 points and 11 rebounds, it wasn't enough to make
up for a total collapse.

"This is incredible," said Jamal Crawford, who had an awful game
one day after winning the NBA's Sixth Man Award. "We had the
game won. It just slipped away from us."

Crawford's night ended in appropriate fashion - a desperation
3-pointer that missed badly and left him sprawled on the court.
He finished 4 of 18 from the field for 11 points. Johnson wasn't
much better, making 6 of 16 for 13 points before fouling out for
the first time this season.

"It was a terrible loss," Johnson said. "It was embarrassing."

The Bucks ran out the final seconds and celebrated with chest
bumps in the center of Philips Arena, while the Hawks straggled
to the locker room, hearing nothing but boos from a sellout
crowd of 19,304.

"Bye-bye, Woody!" someone shouted at Atlanta coach Mike Woodson,
whose contract is up at the end of a season that now finds
itself in one loss-and-done mode.

"It's a tough loss," Woodson said, "but it's a seven-game
series."

Atlanta cruised through the first two games at home and fully
expected to win at least one game in Milwaukee, which would have
set them up to clinch at home in Game 5.

Instead, it's the gritty Bucks who are on the verge of moving on
to face waiting Orlando in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

"We feel great," Thomas said. "Even after the first two games,
we felt very confident we would go home and get the job done."

Milwaukee shot 41 percent from the field but simply outworked an
Atlanta team that seemed stunned more and more to find itself in
a tough series. John Salmons added 19 points for the Bucks and
Luke Ridnour had 15.

"We know we didn't play well," Salmons said. "It was an ugly
game."

But it sure looked pretty at the end. The Bucks continually
drove to the hoop in the fourth quarter, drawing foul after foul
and hitting 15 of 18 free throws. Stunningly, Atlanta never got
to the line in the final period.

Marvin Williams had 22 points for the Hawks, who couldn't
overcome the dismal showings by their two leading scorers,
Johnson and Crawford.

The Hawks appeared to be taking control in the third quarter
with the sort of play that had been missing since the first two
games in Atlanta.

Johnson took things into his own hands, driving right around
Thomas for a dunk that broke a 50-50 tie and sparked a 17-4 run
that took less than 4 minutes. Johnson also hit a couple of
jumpers during the spurt, and he got plenty of support from
Horford and Williams.

Horford scored six points, including a couple of ferocious dunks
set up by passes from Mike Bibby. After the second jam, Bibby
backpedaled down the court with a smile on his face, the Hawks
appearing to have fun for the first time all night.

Williams scored the other five points in Atlanta's outburst,
including a three-point play that began at the other end with a
turnover by Salmons.

The Bucks just wouldn't go away, even though both replacement
centers, Thomas and Gadzuric, ran into foul trouble. Thomas
picked up his fourth less than 4 minutes into the third quarter,
while Gadzuric was whistled for his fifth before the period was
done.

Unlike Johnson, they both managed to make it to the finish.

The Hawks' frustration showed early.

Zaza Pachulia sent Jennings flying with a hard whack late in the
first quarter, drawing an intentional foul. The 6-foot-1
Jennings hopped off the court as though he wanted to go at the
6-11 Pachulia, but Thomas and the officials stepped in to push
the rookie guard away. Ridnour jawed a bit with Pachulia before
things calmed down.

Early in the second, Johnson doled out another hard foul on
Ridnour, who tumbled to the court after taking a bit of a shove
with the forearm.

The Bucks dished out some shots of their own. Thomas stepped out
to set a pick on Smith, who tumbled to the court and rolled over
with a gash over his right eye. He headed to the locker room to
get five stitches, but returned to the court late in the period
with a bandage covering the wound.

NOTES: Bibby drew chuckles along press row when he attempted to
check in during the first half, only to be told he had arrived
at the scorer's spot a split-second too late. He looked at the
officials in disbelief, then collapsed against the padded table
as if he'd been hit with a punch ... Salmons is 23 of 24 at the
foul line in the series, finally missing one late in Wednesday's
game. ... Milwaukee was 23 of 29 at the free throw line, Atlanta
13 of 17.